This statement caused some confusion, since Enwright believed that the now detected MiG-23s had fired and he began to release defensive chaff bundles. Meanwhile Connelly followed Gipsy 202 missile flight which exploded into the right intake duct of the second Flogger.

At 12:01:57 Gipsy 207 began a hard right turn to position himself to the six o’clock position of the lead MiG-23 which was passing in front of him from left to right. The second damaged Flogger instead, streaming black smoke entered a right turn and was lost from view after its pilot ejected.

At 12:02:06 Connelly was at six o’ clock position of the first MiG-23 and reported “Good kill, good kill, I’ve got the other one” while switching on his stick to select Sidewinder. But no familiar tone came from the missile’s seeker head on his head set. While Enwright was shouting “Select Fox 2, shoot Fox 2”, Connelly switched back to Sparrow, but since they were overtaking the Flogger, he shifted again to Sidewinder which eventually emitted the right tone.

Connelly pulled the trigger, the missile left the left wing station and hit the MiG-23 in the fuselage just behind the cockpit.

At 12:02:36 Connelly reported to the E-2C that they had “splashed two Floggers and that there were two good ‘chutes in the air

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One response to “Swordsmen Splash Floggers- 25 Years Ago”

In 1986 the Lybian Air Force was orderd to attack the US Fleet north of the Gulf of Sidra right after the F-111s went feet wet in Operation El Dorado Canyon. My ship was the closest to Tripoli.
For some reason, perhaps in memory of the Swordsmen, all LAF aircraft failed to fly. A bad day for plane captains and pre-flight inspection for sure.

We knew of the attack order at the time, and it was finally noted in El Dorado Canyon: Reagan’s Undeclared War With Qaddafi by Joseph Stanik, 2003).

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